Summary of Key Changes from Previous Psos

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CONTENTS

Summary of Key Changes from Previous PSOs

1Executive summary

Background

1.1 This instruction sets out the framework for the management of equalities issues in prison establishments (except for issues relating to the equal treatment of employees which are covered in PSI 33/2011). It builds on the successes of and learning from previous arrangements for the management of race and disability issues and extends coverage to all equalities issues.

1.2 It applies to all prison establishments – all references to Governors should be taken to include the Directors of contracted establishments.

1.3 It sets out the policy approach and lists some key mandatory actions designed to ensure legal compliance. These are supplemented by comprehensive guidance in the annexes to the document. Further specific guidance and tools can be found on the Equalities Group intranet site. Governors are asked to apply this to local circumstances to deliver the expected outcomes.

Desired outcomes

1.4 This instruction aims to ensure that we meet our moral duty and legal obligations to provide a fair service to all.

Application

1.5 All staff must read and follow sections of this policy as required.

Mandatory actions

1.6 Governors must ensure that all staff are made aware of this Instruction

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1.7 All staff must adhere to the standards of behaviour set out in this Instruction and follow the mandatory requirements of the policy.

1.8 The mandatory actions are designed to ensure the following:

- Management: personal leadership by Governors, supported by a functional head with lead responsibility for co-ordinating work on equalities issues, and all managers taking personal responsibility for equalities issues within their areas. An annual local equality action plan based on relevant management information, discussed regularly by the SMT, with managers and staff held to account for progress.

- Monitoring: equality monitoring information on all prisoners collected and recorded; service provision monitored; and monitoring data published.

- Equality Impact Assessments: EIAs completed to a satisfactory standard in accordance with an annual EIA programme, devised through a risk prioritisation process.

- Incident Reporting: an effective system for reporting and responding to incidents of discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

- Procurement and Partnerships: all conducted in accordance with equalities legislation.

- Disability: prisoners encouraged to disclose disabilities. Reasonable adjustments made and recorded. Disabled prisoners located appropriately. Courts and escort contractors informed of disabled prisoners’ needs as appropriate.

Resource Impact

1.8This instruction contains fewer mandatory actions and prescribes less process than the orders and instructions that it replaces (see annex I for a summary of key changes). It is designed to allow Governors greater discretion and flexibility in how they go about delivering the required outcomes, and in particular to encourage better integration of equalities work into core business. This does not signal that action on equalities is now less of a priority or that this area of work is generally over-resourced and should be targeted for cost savings.

(signed)

Phil Copple

Director of National Operational Services

2Policy

NOMS Equality Policy Statement

2.1NOMS is committed to fairness for all. We treat our staff properly and ensure equality of opportunity. We deliver our services fairly and respond to individual needs. We insist on respectful and decent behaviour from staff, offenders and others with whom we work. We recognise that discrimination, harassment and bullying can nevertheless occur and we take prompt and appropriate action whenever we discover them.

Staff Responsibilities

2.2All members of staff must work and behave in a way that is consistent with the equality policy statement and our legal responsibilities (see annex A) to eliminate discrimination and to promote equality and good relations.

3Management

3.1Governors must provide active personal leadership and set a clear positive example. A functional head with lead responsibility for co-ordinating work on equalities issues must be identified. All managers must take personal responsibility for equalities issues within their areas.

3.2Governors must ensure that staff are aware of their equalities responsibilities.

3.3Governors must ensure that staff and prisoners are aware of the identities of the functional head with lead responsibility for equalities issues and any other staff with specific responsibilities in this area.

3.4Governors must ensure that management information (see annex B) on equalities issues in service delivery is analysed, and that an annual local equality action plan is produced and published. Responsibility for actions on the plan must be clear and managers and staff must be held to account for progress through relevant management checks. Progress must be tracked and an update report must be submitted regularly (at a frequency to be determined by the Governor based on an assessment of risk) for discussion by the Senior Management Team, copied to the Deputy Director of Custody, and published.

3.5Governors must ensure that prisoners and other stakeholders, particularly those from minority groups, are consulted and involved appropriately in the management of equalities issues (see annex C).

4Monitoring

4.1NOMS collects monitoring data (see annex D) on all equalities issues and uses it for analysis that drives action to ensure fairness for all.

4.2 Governors must ensure that:

• equality monitoring information on all prisoners is collected and recorded;
• service provision is monitored; and
• monitoring data is published.

4.3Monitoring must include areas that are mandated nationally (to enable the collation of national data). Consideration must be given to monitoring further areas that are identified as risks locally. Any additional monitoring should be in proportion to the risks identified and the outcomes and characteristics monitored should be kept under regular review.

5Equality Impact Assessments

5.1Equality impact assessments (see annex E) provide a systematic way of ensuring that our policies are formulated and implemented in accordance with our legal responsibilities (see annex A) on equalities.

5.2National policies are subject to equality impact assessment in accordance with the arrangements set out in AI 10/2011.

5.3Local equality impact assessments are a process that is used to identify and manage risk around equalities issues at the establishment.

5.4Governors must use a risk identification and prioritisation process to devise an annual local EIA programme, agree the programme with the relevant senior manager above establishment level and copy it to Equalities Group.

5.5Governors must ensure that EIAs are completed in accordance with the programme, to a satisfactory standard using the NOMS service delivery EIA template or NEAT tool, made available locally and sent to Equalities Group (for publication).

6Discrimination Incident Reporting

6.1 All incidents of discrimination, harassment and victimisation must be reported using the Discrimination Incident Reporting Form (DIRF). The Discrimination Incident Report form must replace the use of Racist Incident Reporting Forms and any other locally designed forms for the reporting of other equalities incidents. Guidance on the DIRF system can be found at Annex F. It should be noted that this does not mean that staff do not have a responsibility to respond appropriately at the time – many incidents can be resolved by prompt staff action, for instance by challenging inappropriate behaviour, and where this is achieved the incident and the outcome should be reported.

6.2Governors must ensure that all incidents of discrimination, harassment and victimisation are handled in a proportionate and timely way. Appropriate systems, such as adjudications and security information reporting must also be used where possible. More serious incidents must be referred for investigation.

6.3Governors must ensure that prisoners and visitors are aware of the system for reporting incidents of discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and that staff are aware of the system and of their responsibilities in responding appropriately to such incidents. Forms must be available in all areas of the prison, with envelopes provided to ensure privacy. The system for submitting and responding to them must be private and secure.

6.4Victims and reporters of incidents must be protected in accordance with the local violence reduction strategy.

6.5DIRFs must be explored (when submitted by prisoners or visitors) or reviewed (when submitted by staff) and responded to by a manager. The Governor must put in place a sign off or quality control process involving a Senior Manager (this should be determined by an assessment of the risk involved, and may vary from a quality control process for a percentage of completed DIRFs, to a process in which all DIRFs are signed off by a senior manager prior to a response being sent).

6.6DIRFs must be logged - on receipt and response - and monitored. Data must be analysed and used as management information to inform the equality action plan.

7Procurement and Partnerships

7.1Governors must ensure that services that are procured from or delivered in partnership with other organisations are delivered in a way that is consistent with our legal responsibilities (see annex A).

8Disability

8.1 Governors must ensure that efforts are made to identify whether a prisoner has a mental or physical impairment of any form. Governors must ensure that prisoners are encouraged to disclose their disability status and that procedures are in place to record this information (both on reception and subsequently) and to treat it confidentially. Not all prisoners will be aware of their disabled status and staff must be proactive in identifying the specific needs of all prisoners (further guidance on learning disabilities is at annex H).

8.2Governors must consider on an ongoing basis what prisoners and visitors with a range of disabilities might reasonably need and ensure that reasonable adjustments (see annex G) are made for disabled prisoners and visitors. Governors must consider whether prison policies and practices, the built environment, or a lack of auxiliary aids and services could put a disabled prisoner or visitor at a substantial disadvantage and if so must make reasonable adjustments to avoid the disadvantage. If a request for reasonable adjustments is made by a prisoner or visitor it must be considered and the outcome documented.

8.3Governors must ensure that where it is not possible to make the reasonable adjustments required the prisoner is transferred to another appropriate establishment. Where there is a dispute between prisons about where a disabled prisoner is best located, the Deputy Director of Custody must be contacted.

8.4The transfer of a disabled prisoner must not be delayed or prevented on the basis of their disability (unless the proposed receiving establishment cannot provide appropriate facilities).

8.5Governors must ensure that where a disabled prisoner is required at court, the escort

contractor and Clerk of Court are informed of the details of the disability and the needs of the prisoner.

Annex A

Legal Responsibilities

Introduction

A.1. NOMS staff are expected to meet high standards of professional and personal conduct, and this includes complying with the legal responsibilities in the equalities legislation. As well as refraining from discrimination, harassment and victimisation, these include actively promoting equality. All staff are personally responsible for their conduct in this area and failure to maintain the required standards can lead to action, which may result in dismissal from the Service.

A.2. This guidance sets out the characteristics of a person that are protected by the Equality Act 2010 and the conduct that is not allowed in relation to these characteristics, and explains the duties which the Act imposes on staff. More detailed guidance and some examples can be found on the Equalities Group intranet site or obtained from

A.3. Information about how the Act relates to NOMS as an employer can be found in annex A of PSI 33/2011.

Protected characteristics

A.4. For something to be illegal under the Act it has to relate to a protected characteristic. These are described below.

Age

A.5. This refers to a particular age group, whether this is a particular age or a range of ages.

Disability

A.6. This covers people who have or have had a physical or mental difficulty which has a substantial and long-term negative effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, or would have such an effect if measures were not being taken to treat or control the difficulty.

Gender reassignment

A.7. This covers people who propose to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone a process or part of a process for the purpose of reassigning their sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex. The process is a personal one not a medical one: it is not necessary for the person to be undergoing medical treatment.

Marriage and civil partnership

A.8. This covers people who are either married or in a civil partnership.

Pregnancy and maternity

A.9. This refers to when a woman is pregnant or the period of 26 weeks after the birth of her child (in particular if a woman is breastfeeding).

Race

A.10. A racial group is a group of persons who are defined by reference to race. Race includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins.

Religion or belief

A.11. This includes any religion, religious belief or philosophical belief. It also includes any lack of religion, religious belief or philosophical belief.

Sex

A.12. This covers men and women.

Sexual orientation

A.13. This means a person’s sexual orientation: whether that person’s sexual orientation is towards persons of the same sex, persons of the opposite sex, or persons of either sex.

Prohibited conduct

A.14. As a public authority, it is unlawful for NOMS in the exercise of its public function to do anything that constitutes discrimination, harassment and victimisation. This covers treatment of prisoners and others such as visitors. Discrimination, harassment and victimisation are defined as follows.

Direct Discrimination

A.15. This is where someone treats another person less favourably than others because of a protected characteristic. Direct discrimination can occur when a person is treated less favourably because that person is linked or associated with someone who has a protected characteristic. It can also occur where a person is treated less favourably because it is wrongly thought that the person has a particular protected characteristic or is treated as if that person does. It should be noted that in relation to age, direct discrimination can be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Indirect discrimination

A.16. This is where a rule or policy is applied to everybody but would put people with a relevant protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage. However, there is no discrimination if the rule or policy can be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Discrimination arising from disability

A.17. This is a particular form of discrimination where someone treats another person less favourably because of something arising in consequence of their disability. However, there is no discrimination if the treatment can be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Harassment

A.18. This is where unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic (or unwanted conduct of a sexual nature) has the purpose or effect of violating another person’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for another person. It also constitutes harassment if, following rejection of or submission to unwanted conduct of a sexual nature or unwanted conduct related to gender reassignment or sex, a person is treated less favourably.

Victimisation

A.19. This is where someone is subjected to a detriment because that person does a protected act, or it is believed that that person has done, or may do, a protected act. A protected act means bringing proceedings under the Equality Act 2010, giving evidence or information in connection with proceedings under the Act, doing any other thing for the purposes of or in connection with the Act and making an allegation that someone has contravened the Act. However, people who give false evidence or information, or make a false allegation, are not protected from victimisation if they have done so in bad faith.

Duties

A.20. The Act imposes the following additional duties on NOMS as a public authority.

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation

A.21. Unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation should be eliminated.

Provide equal opportunities

A.22. Prisoners, visitors and others with whom we work should be provided with equal opportunities. This can be done in a number of ways:

• Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people who share a relevant protected characteristic that are connected to that characteristic.

• Taking steps to meet the needs of people who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of people who do not share it.

• Encouraging people who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in any activity in which participation by such people is disproportionately low.

A.23. Further guidance in the context of disabilities can be found in annex G.

Foster good relations

A.24. Good relations between people with a protected characteristic and people without that protected characteristic should be fostered, in particular through tackling prejudice and promoting understanding.